Nick Kingham spun toward third base, then swiped his right arm with the smallest hint of frustration. Paul DeJong had not only gotten his bat on the ball, no small feat for the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday, but managed to slip it past the Pirates’ defense for a base hit.
Over at third, Colin Moran took the slightest extra beat to pull himself from the dirt. He dived, for but had just missed, DeJong’s grounder, which rolled into left field for the Cardinals’ first hit of the game with two outs in the seventh.
Kingham exchanged the baseball, then composed himself behind the mound as fans applauded his effort: In his major league debut, he carried a perfect game into the seventh inning.